My little girl scouts!

I just had to post a couple of pics of my little brownie and my little daisy in their t-shirts and uniforms for girl scouts. Today, they both had a lot of fun at their meeting. Lala learned the girl scout promise and Bella earned her first "try-it" patch for a travel activity that she did with the juniors. I have to admit, it was pretty exciting for me that she earned a badge so quickly! And she had so much fun doing it--making a cute travel bag and playing a travel game. We're really liking girl scouts! And Ceci just loves playing at the park!

Path to Freedom Potluck and Harvesting our Carrots

Tonight, instead of watching the Oscars, we went to a Path to Freedom potluck. It was hosted by the Dervaes family and there was a group of local people who garden and bring the fruits of their harvest to share. The food was delicious!

We also got to watch a documetary called Pollen Nation about honeybees that travel all over the country to pollinate crops. It was actually very sad because currently, crops do not have enough bees to pollinate them and so bee keepers are hired to travel the country with their bees to help pollinate crops. Over that past few years, there has been a 25% decrease in the honeybee population which is really alarming. ( A huge reason to buy organic and garden organic, since it is believed that pesticides play a major role in their decrease.)

For dessert, we were fortunate to have some DELICIOUS Haggen Dazs honey flavored ice cream called vanilla honey bee! Haagen Dazs has actually started a program called help the honey bees which is very worth checking out.

We also watched Homegrown Revolution which is the Dervaes movie I posted a few weeks back here on the blog. Jules Dervaes was so inspiring tonight! He has such a positive attitude about making changes for the better. He's also super-funny and down to earth. For a joke, his daughter pretended to give him an "oscar" for their movie--a spade. It was really cute. I'm really looking forward to my gardening this year! I plan to buy all my seeds from freedom seeds, which is an organic and non-GMO seed company started by the Dervaes.





Coincidentally, our girls harvested our first carrots today! The stems were looking pretty long so we let them each pull one out. They were a tad small, so we're going to give the rest a little more time. I must say though, that it is very rewarding to eat food that you have grown yourself!! The carrots were very yummy! :) (And don't worry, Bella washed it first!!) By the way, nice outfit, Lala!

A Birthday Party and the Temple

Yesterday my girls got to go to a fun birthday party for their friend Elias who turned three. It was at one of our favorite parks in South Pasadena. I was actually at a homeopathy class, but I got there at the end to get this cute picture. I couldn't resist posting it!! Look at Ceci's cute face!










In the evening, Craig and I got to go to the Temple where we took this funny picture of ourselves. Always nice to be in the house of the Lord.

Chicken Soup for the Sister's Soul

Tonight we had a wonderful enrichment dinner. We called it "Chicken Soup for the Sister's Soul." We served two DELICIOUS soups--chicken noodle, and chicken tortilla. We then had a journaling class and a workshop to make handmade journals with these pretty papers. It was such a lovely night!!

More Valentines day and Lala's birthday

So over Valentine's weekend, we celebrated Lala's birthday some more with Grandma Ginny. We also got a beautiful Valentine package from Uncle Jeff, (Craig's brother) and his family. (Thanks, Jeff, Rachel, Gabe and Sophia!!) Also, Craig and I got these cute Japanese erasers for the girls which they LOVED. They really smell good too!

Engagement and Wedding Pics

It was fun to dig up these pictures. In some ways, our wedding seems like it was a lifetime ago! It was 1998, the year of "El Nino." It was probably the hardest rain we've ever seen in our lives and there we were walking around in it, taking pictures! I guess we were just so happy to be married, so excited, hopeful and in love. There were definitely some moments that day when I really just wanted to CRY. :( Somehow, the pictures came out really nice even with the rain. Our photographers were the best. Craig and I were sealed for time and for all eternity in the Los Angeles temple. The sealing was perfect. I married Craig because he was the nicest guy I ever met--he still is! My favorite picture is the one of us with the Savior. He means so much to us in our marriage. I KNOW He watches over us and is always there for us through the good and bad.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We had a very fun 11th. It started on Friday night by getting delicious Thai take out from President Thai and eating it while watching a mystery Dateline. Grandma Ginny came over for the whole weekend to help us out with the kids.

Saturday morning we went to Heirloom Bakery and Cafe in South Pasadena and had a totally delicious breakfast--tomato basil quiche, a bacon, egg and cheese croissant sandwich and orange juice. It was sooooooooo good and we had the best table! We also shared a yummy cream-filled chocolate cupcake. (We ate very naughty--chocolate is very much a part of Valentines day for us!)










We then wandered around South Pasadena. There are so many cute stores on and near Mission Street. Family Fair, the Chocolate Box, Marz, the Dinosaur Farm, the Fair Oaks Pharmacy, Koi. I just enjoy the cuteness of the store fronts more than anything else--so different from a mall. We got some truffles at the Chocolate Box. We discovered a new store called Zinnia that we absolutely loved. It was a crafty yet very artsy store. There was even an exhibition going on called Heartbreak which was really nice. Some of the pieces were wonderful.










We then went over to the Folk Tree. This is one of our very favorite stores and we wanted to see their "Hearts and Flowers" show going on. We try to see this show every year. It was nice--so inspiring! I wish I would've snapped more pics! I really enjoyed this embroidered piece.

Going to the Folk Tree inspired us to go to another favorite place--Olvera Street!! We LOVE hanging out there and looking at the wonderful art and crafts. After some browsing, I found a beautiful new red blouse from Ecuador. I love Ecuadorian embroidery ever since my sister Brenda went there on her mission and brought us back some Ecuadorian clothing. Craig also got a new guayabera. It was just so fun to be in the Olvera Street atmosphere.




























We then went home to check on the girls and change our clothes. We had a dinner reservation to get ready for! On the way there we stopped at Zinnia because they were having the opening reception for the show and we wanted to check it out. We only stayed for a bit, but it was really nice to meet some of the artists. I got to meet the artists of my three favorite pieces. Here are a couple of them.








So we had a dinner reservation at Frere Taix which is a fabulous French Restaurant in Echo Park. We go there almost every anniversary because we love it and also because it's where we had our wedding luncheon. So it's a very special place for us. And, oh man!!! Did we have the BEST dinner there!
They had a special Valentines day menu and they were offering prime rib. There was no doubt that that was what both Craig and I would order. We started with the most wonderful potato leek soup. We then had a yummy bleu cheese iceberg lettuce wedge. Then came the prime rib which was PERFECT.
I personally love an end cut. I like to call prime rib "velvet butter meat" because that's what it reminds me of. It came with mashed potatoes, carrots, and asparagus. YUM!! For dessert we ordered a creme brulee AND a chocolate mousse! (I know, pigs!!) But we couldn't help it, we couldn't choose between the two! We were so surprised when four of the waiters came out with our mousse with two candles in it and sang "Happy Anniversary" to us. Craig had mentioned it when he made the reservation, but we didn't know that they would remember!! :) Everything was so perfect! And can you believe they brought us chocolate dipped strawberries with our bill? :)